Attendees at the recent "Rocky Horror" theater production in Middleton showed up in leather and fishnets, but for "Church Basement Ladies" at Overture Center, the costumes in the audience were just a little different.

Mary Ann Jerred donned a light blue apron and vintage hat with a metal whisk and plastic measuring cups dangling from her belt. In her purse she carried several Lutheran church cookbooks, including one with a salad recipe that called for a can of shoestring beets, horseradish and lemon Jell-O.

Nancy Pike and her mother, Doreen Davidson, sported aprons, hats and brightly patterned purses made from cleverly repurposed casserole dish covers.

The women are longtime members of Lake Edge Lutheran Church on Monona Drive. They, along with a few dozen friends, family and their pastor, caught "Church Basement Ladies" on its second night in Madison.

The musical, a Minnesota import, is playing at Overture Center's Capitol Theater until Aug. 31.

"I'm interested to see how this appears to us," Pike said before the show, referring to the "smorgasbords and ice cream socials, and the cooking and cooking and cooking" that characterizes many of these women's experiences at church functions.

"Church Basement Ladies" was written by Jessica Zuehlke and Jim Stowell with music and lyrics by Drew Jansen, author of "How to Talk Minnesotan: The Musical." "Church Basement Ladies" had a successful run in Minnesota before touring Kansas. After Madison, it heads to Chicago.

Starting with the rousing and infectious opening, "You're Closer to Heaven (In the Church Basement)," "Church Basement Ladies" had its aproned and red-hatted audience giggling and hooting in recognition.

"Lift your spirits as high as the stars are/down below where the coffee and bars are," the company sings while preparing the standard Norwegian feast of lefse and lutefisk.

The "four pillars" of the East Cornucopia Lutheran Church of the Prairie are the reigning head of the kitchen, Mrs. Vivian Snustad (Jean Liuzzi), the menopausal Mavis Gilmerson (Karen Pappas), Karin Engelson (Margaret Curry) and her college-age daughter, Signe (Stella Fasanello).

Brandishing coffee and hot dishes, punctuating their sentences with "ufda!" and local references -- a pickup truck is "a Minnesota refrigerator" -- these church ladies embrace tradition and revel in it.

"Don't be brash, don't be bold/when you're feeding the fold," the women advise in the "Pale Food Polka," adhering to their "kitchen bible," "The Joy of Butter." The musical doesn't offer much in terms of plot, just snapshots at different times of the year as these women prepare for a mid-December lefse feast, a February funeral, a Hawaiian-themed Easter (complete with a terrific tropical Easter Bunny costume) and finally, Signe's wedding.

Pastor E. L. Gunderson, played by William Christopher (Father Mulcahy on M*A*S*H), is the emissary to the 1965 "real world" of the church upstairs. Christopher's singing voice is weak, but one doesn't expect Pavarotti and it does nothing to hurt the sweet poignancy of "Song for Willie," his major solo.

The musical's best songs, all punctuated with utterly cheesy choreography, include "Get Down to Business" and the hammed-up "My Own Personal Island," Mavis's ode to hot flashes.

A song about the differences between Lutherans and Catholics, "This is Most Certainly True," was a favorite with the church ladies in the audience, as was "Dead Spread," a tune about funeral food.

"I'm enjoying it," Liz Ekola, also of Lake Edge Lutheran, said at the intermission. "I can identify a lot with what they're saying. They did a good job with the setting. I like the little details."

Kathi Berkley loved Vivian Snustad's "Wonder Bread boots," otherwise known as plastic bags.

"A lot of stuff gets done in that church basement and has been for a long time," Berkley said.

"The more you know (about church life), the funnier it is, and also the truer it is," said Lake Edge Pastor Shirley Funk. "This would be a lot different if told from the pastor's point of view."

As warm and funny as they are, church basements can be home to pettiness and narrow-mindedness. "Church Basement Ladies" acknowledges and pokes fun at this.

"The whole point of tradition is that you don't willy-nilly change things," says Mrs. Snustad, the most vocal source of this way of thinking. She's convinced the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) are akin to Sodom and Gomorrah, if you become Catholic you'll have to "sign your children over to the Pope," and don't even ask about playing a guitar in the sanctuary.

It's a world recognizable to many of the attendees. Though the play is set in the mid-1960s, each of the modern church basement ladies thought they saw familiar faces onstage.

"That's how it was when we were growing up," Doreen Davidson said. "It brought back memories from the old days."

"I could see the characteristics in each of the ladies in my church now and in my home congregation," said Bonnie Gudmandsen.

"We know a bunch of those people," added Lois Roth, who goes to Zion Lutheran Church on the near east side.

Mary Graper, clad in a patterned apron and big purple beads, was confident the play will have wide appeal.

"It was a riot," she said. "Church ladies are the same no matter what building they're in."

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IF YOU GO

"Church Basement Ladies" runs through Aug. 31 at the Capitol Theater in the Overture Center, 201 State St. Single tickets cost $15-$35 with group (and pastor) discounts available. To buy tickets or get more information, visit the Overture Web site, www.overturecenter.com/0809/cbl.htm.